


A Whole New Language

by Magentas_Nightmare



Series: Merle Dixon Oneshots [39]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: ASL, F/M, Merle falls hard, NO SMUT (weird for me. lol), Romance, Sign Language, Sweet Oneshot, hard of hearing character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 14:25:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19770097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magentas_Nightmare/pseuds/Magentas_Nightmare
Summary: Merle meets a woman while doing a favour for his boss and falls hard, but doesn't know how to make it work with her. There is a difficulty that he lives with that could keep them apart of he can't face her and tell her the truth...





	A Whole New Language

**Author's Note:**

> The text that is {in parenthesis like this} is what they are writing to each other.  
> The one section at the end [that looks like this and in bold] is where Merle is signing to her.  
> Hope that all makes sense.  
> This story has zero smut which is strange for me. lol

The Emotion - Borns (This song fits this story perfectly:)

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpE36ZmPe6U>

**_ A Whole New Language _ **

“Could you do me a favour, Merle?”

“Sure thing.”

Dale was a great boss and Merle always agreed to do favours for him without question. Dale had hired him as head mechanic at his dealership a year ago. Merle had never worked for someone as honest and likable before and planned to stay as long as he could. Dale’s second-hand car dealership gave better deals to low-income people than it probably should so Merle hoped Dale could stay open in the long run.

“My niece is moving to Atlanta, but her plane is coming in the day after tomorrow and I have that specialist appointment that I can’t miss.”

“Sure. What time?”

“1 pm. I’ll text you the gate and flight number. You’re a Godsend, Merle, thanks.”

“No problem. Do I just take her to your place after?”

“I was kinda hoping you could show her around the city a little first.”

“I could do that.”

Dale pulled out his phone to show Merle a picture of his niece and it blew him away for a hot second.

“Wow…”

“What?”

“Uh…nothing.”

“You checking out my favourite niece?” Dale grinned.

“Yeah, sorry, man.”

“It’s OK. She’s a really nice girl and I guess I can understand you looking at her like that. She does turn some heads.”

The young woman had long flowing black hair and big brown eyes. Dale’s brother had married a woman from the Philippines and his niece had gorgeous features that Merle was trying hard not to gawk at.

“How old is she?” Merle queried gently.

“She’s 32 but she looks younger, doesn’t she?”

“She really does. What’s her name?”

“Her name is Marielle, but you should know that she’s deaf, so communication will have to be in writing for the day.”

“Writing?”

“Yeah, unless you know ASL.”

“Unless I know what?”

“American Sign Language.”

“I don’t know anything like that, and I’m not much of a writer…but I’ll figure it out.”

“Thanks, Merle. I really appreciate it. She’s a genius accountant, so maybe she’ll take pity and help me balance my books a little.”

“You gotta stop givin’ cars away, Dale,” Merle chuckled. “I coulda told you that and I flunked out of high school.”

“I’m soft-hearted, what can I say,” Dale shrugged.

/

Merle was at the airport early, holding a pad of paper and a pen like a goof. He was nervous about having to write everything to her, he had never had to rely on the written word to communicate before.

He made his way to the gate in the text message from Dale and waited to spot her in a crowd. Dale had sent Marielle a picture of Merle as well and explained that he didn’t know ASL, so at least she’d know the limitations from the start.

As it turned out, she was even more stunning in real life and as she walked toward him, a wide smile spread across her perfect lips. She waved and pulled out a notebook from her pocket.

{Hi, Merle. Just going to grab my suitcase and then we can get going. Thanks for picking me up.}

Merle read the words and wrote back to her on his own paper.

{it’s ok. happy to}

She smiled and he followed her to the baggage claim. Merle held his hand out to take her on-flight luggage and she handed it over. Some things didn’t require words at least. He loaded her larger suitcase onto a trolley, and they made it out the automatic doors to the parking lot.

Merle opened the passenger door to his truck for her and then wrote another note when he sat down.

{You hungry?}

{Yes. Do you know somewhere good to eat? My treat:)}

He was appalled that she was attempting to pay for his meal, and wanted to communicate that he wouldn’t have it, but it would take so many words. Merle never texted anyone if he could avoid it, words were not his friend and never had been.

{I’ll pay}

He didn’t want it to come across rude, so he smiled at her and nodded to let her know he wasn’t being a jerk and she shrugged back with a grin.

{If you insist} she replied.

Merle drove to _Homegrown GA_ and led her to a booth in the back.

{What do you recommend?} she asked.

Merle took the menu from the table and pointed to fried green tomatoes and she nodded.

{Can you order that for me with a cup of black tea, please?}

Merle nodded.

Marielle was a stunner and she smelled like some kind of tropical flowers. Her smile was genuine and warm, and she seemed to really enjoy his company. He wished so badly he could break the ice with a joke, but he didn’t know how to really get closer to her without spoken words.

The waiter came around and he ordered for them both as she asked.

{Hope you didn’t have something else to do today.}

{I didn’t. I’m happy to do this} he answered.

They ate in silence and then he started to doodle on the notepad. He felt awkward and was starting to dread the rest of the day. Marielle was obviously very nice and beautiful, but he was bad at communicating with someone who couldn’t hear him.

Marielle noticed that he was doodling a very basic image of a fish and giggled to herself.

She picked up her own notepad and drew one herself, but much more detailed, with scales and fins. Merle looked at the picture and realized that she was probably better than him at everything.

{Do you like fish?} he asked.

It was an awkward segway for taking her to the Georgia Aquarium, but he wasn’t a fancy guy.

{Are we going fishing?}

{no but it’s fish related}

/

Merle paid for lunch and for their entry the aquarium despite her silent insistence with a hand on his arm whenever he’d reach for his wallet.

“I got this,” he said, before realizing that she couldn’t hear him, so instead he’d just smile and hold up his hand that he’d take care of it.

She relented and walked at his side through the aquarium in silence. He found that he liked being with her even if they didn’t make a sound. Marielle would occasionally touch his arm or hand and then point to something specific in one of the massive tanks. She’d smile and he knew what she meant, not everything had to be verbal.

Merle left her watching a bunch of glowing jellyfish while he went to the bathroom. He pointed to the washroom sign on the wall and she nodded her head. On the way back to her, he noticed a dolphin shaped keychain that said Welcome to Atlanta in a gift shop and stopped to buy it for her.

{You tired?} he asked when he got back to her.

{No. What else did you have in mind?}

{do you like gardens?}

She was patient with him as he thought about what to write and then took a lot longer than her to write it, he liked that about her.

{Sounds great, lead the way:)}

Merle walked her to the car and drove past some notable locations in Georgia, pointing them out as they passed.

He announced Piedmont Park and the High Museum of Art verbally when they passed like a goof and shook his head with embarrassment when she laughed. He liked her laugh, it sounded different than everyone else’s.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden was the kind of place that just suited a pretty woman like Marielle. He didn’t think he’d likely be seeing her after this, so he was treating it like a date while he could. He shook his head again when she reached into her purse and she looked a little annoyed until he wrestled his notepad from his back pocket.

{please don’t be mad I’m trying to be nice}

She let it go with a squeeze of his arm and a roll of her eyes then and he felt himself starting to wonder how long it would take him to learn ASL. He wanted to see her again, but the reading and writing were giving him anxiety.

They walked around the gardens until he could tell she was getting tired from all the walking. He held out his hand motioning for her to stay sitting on the edge of a huge fountain filled with water lilies. Merle brought her back a bottle of lemonade and asked her via notepad if she was tired.

{A little, but this has been a beautiful day, Merle. Thanks for showing me around. I haven’t been here since I was a child.}

{It’s nothing, I had a good time too.}

Merle walked her back to the truck and then back to Dale’s house. Dale wasn’t back from his appointment yet, so Merle brought her luggage inside and waited to see if she needed anything.

{So, maybe I’ll see you around again?} she wrote.

{that would be nice}

He wasn’t himself on paper, he lost all the silly, flirty sides of himself that made him a success with women in the past. Without his voice, he had no way to win her affection.

Merle fished the dolphin keychain from his pocket and handed it to her on the way out the door. Marielle gave him a quick hug and he was intoxicated for a moment by the scent of flowers in her soft black hair. She was a killer. Why couldn’t he just know her language?

/

“So, I hear you took out Dale’s niece?”

Merle hadn’t seen her for a week, and he was miserable. Dale thanked him and told him that Marielle had a good time, and Merle wanted to see her again but didn’t know how to even ask her out or how it would all work. He looked up YouTube videos on ASL and tried to figure it out, but he felt silly. It was like trying to learn German but knowing you were butchering the pronunciation every step of the way.

Now he was sitting with his brother Daryl at a bar called The Highlander where they often met to mope about women or drink with Dale. Merle kept telling himself that it wasn’t worth crying over, but he wasn’t convincing himself or Daryl of that.

“She was nice, but I can’t even talk to her, it would never work.”

“Why?”

“Cause I have to write everything out and it’s too damn hard for me.”

“Learn sign language then.”

“I don’t even know if she likes me, so what’s the point?”

“You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

“Writing is a pain in the ass for me just to say a few stupid words to her…it’s just too hard.”

He felt her eyes on him then and wondered what the odds were that she’d actually turn up at the same bar as him. Then he noticed that Dale was with her and it suddenly made sense why she would be in that particular place.

It was then that Merle realized Marielle could read lips. She looked hurt by his words and refused to look at him after that. Dale had his back to them and hadn’t noticed Merle and Daryl were there, and within ten minutes Marielle had obviously invented a reason to leave.

“She knows what I said. She could read my lips I’m sure of it.”

“You should have gone over to explain it to her…why don’t you tell her the truth about your problem?”

“Cause I’ll look like a goof,” he sighed.

“Just explain to her why it’s so hard for you,” Daryl urged.

“I can’t say it to her, and I can barely write it. I just don’t know if we could make it work anyway.”

/

Merle sat in front of his laptop when he got home, half drunk and feeling sad.

He looked up all the words he wanted to say and decided to practice all night until he could do it right. If it wasn’t going to happen, then at least she’d know that he wasn’t just some asshole who didn’t think she was worth the effort.

/

Merle showed up on Dale’s front step at 9 am the next morning before he had a chance to completely forget what he learned.

“Hey there, Merle. I don’t know what’s wrong with Marielle, but she looked upset to see you last night and wanted to leave.”

“It’s a misunderstanding, I’d never hurt her on purpose, you know that.”

“I know,” Dale nodded.

“Can I see her for a minute to explain?”

“She’s upstairs looking for apartments in my office.”

“Thanks.”

Marielle was typing on a desktop computer when he entered the room and he stood behind her for a moment before reaching out to tap her shoulder.

She didn’t look happy to see him when she turned around, she looked miserable and he had to set things right. Merle tried desperately to remember everything from the videos and just went for it, knowing he’d probably mess it up but that this was his only chance.

**_[ I’m sorry for what I said. I like you. I’m dyslexic. I want to write words but it’s hard for me. If I learn sign language, could I take you out some time? ]_ **

He had to spell the word dyslexic letter by letter and struggled to make his fingers to what they were told, but he could tell that she understood. He watched her reach for some paper and a pen and hoped his apology was good enough and that maybe they could make a go of it together.

{If you want to learn, I can teach you. You’d really learn a whole new language for me?}

Merle nodded emphatically.

There was nothing left to say, and only actions would do anyway. Marielle stood up from the office chair and reached out to touch his face, suddenly she was kissing him, and Merle knew it was going to be fine. Sometimes words are overrated and all you need it another person’s touch to get the message.


End file.
